Wednesday 7 December 2011

Mulled Spice Cookies

Nothing says Christmas like the scent of mulled wine.  Not just Christmas - winter.  I remember the snowboarding holiday (actually, for me it was a sitting-on-my-bum-in-the-snow holiday) where I first tried vin chaud - warm, spicy wine, cradled in frozen hands, it was almost as beautiful as the scenery.  All I need now to be transported back to that snowy mountain-top is a whiff of mulled wine!
This month, the Gluten Free Ratio Rally are making cookies.  Head over to Caroline at The G Spot Revolution to see the results.  The ratio for cookies is 3:2:1 - 3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part sugar.  What could be simpler?

Since it's nearly Christmas, and the weather has (finally) turned frosty, I found myself wondering -  could I make cookies with some of the appeal of mulled wine?  To achieve this I used some of the spices that give Glühwein, Glögg, and all their friends their aromatic goodness.  (Doesn't the fact that practically every cold weather country has its own variation of mulled wine tell you just how wonderful this particular beverage really is?!) 


All I need now is some snow!


Mulled Spice Cookies


70g light brown sugar
10g maple syrup
160g butter, softened
160g brown rice flour
80g white rice flour
1tsp vanilla extract
pinch ground cloves
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/4tsp ground ginger
1 star anise, seeds only
1 green cardamon pod, seeds only

  • Grind the anise seeds and cardamon seeds until they are a fine powder.  Mix with the other spices then combine with the flours.
  • Beat the butter, sugar and maple syrup together until light and fluffy, add the vanilla extract  and combine well.
  • Add the flour and spice mix and fold in until you have a stiff-ish dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
  • You can either roll the dough into a sausage and slice 1/2cm thick rounds off that, or roll the dough out on a floured surface and cut shapes.  Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Variation: before you put the cookies in the oven, place a blob of marzipan on top of each cookie, then bake as before.

Clementine Icing: Juice one clementine (you can also zest it if you like) and add the juice to 3-4 heaped tbsp of icing sugar (powdered sugar) mix well to make a smooth, runny icing. Spoon over cooked and cooled cookies, or use as "mortar" to hold together a cookie-tree like the one above.



Amanda | Gluten Free Maui | Simple Shortbread
Amie Valpone | The Healthy Apple | Grapefruit Sugar Cookies
Brooke | B & the boy! | Candy Cane Shortbread
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free | Cardamom Date Cookies
charissa | zest bakery | Coconut Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Caroline | The G-Spot | Double Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies
Claire | Gluten Freedom | Chai Latte Cashew Cookies
Erin | The Sensitive Epicure | Spritz Cookies with Jam
gretchen | kumquat | Classic Sugar Cookies
Irvin | Eat the Love | Apple Brown Butter Bay Leaf Spice Cookies
Jean |Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes | Chocolate Reindeer Cookies 
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine | Basler Brunsli
Jonathan| The Canary Files | Vegan Salted Oatmeal Cherry Cookies
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free! | Mexican Wedding Cakes
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen | Molasses Rum Raisin Cookies
Mary Fran | frannycakes | Pinwheel Cookies
Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan | Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Meredith | Gluten Free Betty | Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Morri | Meals With Morri| Stevia Sweetened & Grain-Free Thumbprint Cookies with Apricot Preserves
Pete & Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem| Belgian Speculaas Cookies
Rachel | The Crispy Cook | Melomakarona
Shanua | Gluten Free Girl & the Chef | Gluten-Free Soft Molasses Cookies
Silvana Nardone | Silvana’s Kitchen | Old-School Italian Jam-Filled Hazelnut Cookies
T.R. | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Cinnamon Lemon Cookies
Tara | A Baking Life | Walnut Shortbread 


14 comments:

  1. What gorgeous photography in this post. And Mulled Spice cookies sound just perfect for Christmas.

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  2. How festive! What a warm and seasonal favor combo. Love it! And your photos are beautiful.

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  3. Thanks! They make the whole house smell like Christmas when you're baking them, too!

    You can click on the link to Caroline's post in the text to check out the rest (just above the gf rally logo)

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  4. Lisa @ GF Canteen7 December 2011 at 15:56

    Those look awesome and no gums! yay. big fan of marzipan.

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  5. Oh wow. These look SO GOOD. I love mulled cider/wine/anything with all those seasonal spices in it. What a great idea to make a cookie out of it!

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  6. Aw! This is so cute! And what a cool idea using mulled spice flavors in a cookie.

    Great job and happy holidays.

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  7. Absolutely beautiful - love these and they are so perfect for the holidays!

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  8. I bet these pair really welled with mulled wine too. Or spiked egg nog. Sign me up!

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  9. So inspiring! I agree with just about every previous comment - mulled anything is a winner in my book. Now adding mulled spice cookies...

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  10. these sound delightful... what a great way to use all those yummy holiday spices. and i love the clementine frosting idea... i always have too many of those around the kitchen when i get a little overzealous at the grocery store, so this would be a perfect use for extras.

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  11. These are beautiful, Caleigh! I also love mulled wine - and I LOVE the idea of clementine on the cookie. Oh. Yum. Great job!

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  12. Christmas is definitely here, I'm seeing some great new recipes this year.

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  13. Thanks for your lovely comments! These cookies have become a firm favourite in our home.

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  14. mmm... these sound delicious. I love all these cookie recipes - such a mixture of different flavours and textures!

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